What's Love Got To Do With It?

Are Office Romances A Good Idea Or Not?

When men and women work together, there is a chance they fall into the temptation of expanding their relationship into the romance zone. Sometimes, they share the office for months or years without any such thought, only to fall for each other unexpectedly at some point in time.

While office romances aren’t necessarily a bad thing, they could influence the work environment in a negative way. The two lovers tend to spend their time doing nice things or simply stating at each other, thus focusing less on their work. When this happens, their productivity might get affected, and they risk to get fired for not doing their job properly. This is why some Australian companies have a policy that forbids employees to get involved in romantic relationships. If this happens, one of them has to leave the company.

Another danger of office romances is related to the fact that professional interaction between the two isn’t always smooth. If they disagree on work issues, there’s a big probability for their romantic life to be negatively affected as well. Conversely, if they are in love with each other, they might become unable to see clearly when their romantic partner makes a work-related mistake. Even when they see such mistakes, they might find it hard to penalize them, thus impacting the company in a negative way.

Both situations described above referred to single individuals falling for each other in an working environment, as a consequence of a close cooperation in business-related issues. However, the romantic flame may get ignited between people who are already involved in personal romantic relationships outside the work space. Such office romances are never a good idea, as they usually lead to odd and embarrassing situations. Besides, all other things apply, the two lovers will tend to neglect their duties in favor of romantic activities and they might become less inclined to observe eventual mistakes made by the other. Their performance at work will decrease, so the risk of getting laid off will be higher.

Last but not least, we have to think about what happens when the romance comes to an end. The two protagonists will be forced to cooperate in their work, although they might prefer to never see each other again in their life. Since being in love is a stage that rarely lasts more than 2-3 years, falling in love at your work may lead to the need to quitting your job as soon as your relationship is over. This makes it a bad idea overall.